BAIC Plans to List Car Unit in Hong Kong in 2013

BAIC Group plans to list next year its passenger car subsidiary in Hong Kong, which will bring a profit of 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion).

Chairman Xu Heyi said that the initial public offering proceeds will be used for the company’s own passenger car business. The announcement was made at the World Economic Forum meeting in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. Currently SAIC has joint ventures with Hyundai and Daimler.

A few days ago BAIC Group Chief Engineer and BAIC Motor Holding Group Vice President Gao Weimin announced at the Chengdu Motor Show that the company has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Mercedes-Benz Technology, according to which MBtech will supervise and conduct concept design, research, market analysis work and engineering for BAIC Motor.

On September 6th, BAIC has signed another agreement, this time with US based Boston-Power to supply battery systems to BAIC’s electric vehicle arm, Beijing Electric Vehicle Company. Boston Power will provide batteries for many BAIC models, beginning with the C70 in the fourth quarter of 2012, which is based on the SAAB 9-5 chassis. In 2009 BAIC bought Saab technologies for $200 million and has made a production base of 12 billion yuan for upscale vehicles in Beijing.